That word he used, palladium, refers to the statue Pallas Athena, whose preservation was believed to ensure the safety of the ancient Greek city of Troy. To the people of Troy, the statue was a shield, a safeguard against their enemies, and as long as she stood guard no harm could come to them.

My question to you is: Have you taken up your duty, not just to guard the Second Amendment, but are you truly the shield, the protector, of the beautiful but fragile lady we call liberty?

Do you stand beside those who are harassed and arrested because of the color of their skin? Do you sit back while your neighbors are dragged off in the middle of the night for what they choose to put into their bodies? Do you honorably and respectfully uphold the rights of others to speak their truth no matter how opposed it is to yours? And do you oppose excessive taxes even if their proceeds would line your pockets?

Liberty is a harsh mistress. You cannot pick and choose what you like and dislike about her. Liberty will not change her principles for you, no matter how much you claim to love her. She will stand fast in her demands for total acceptance. If you can't receive her, she will recognize you as a false lover and leave you. And when you hear that door slam, it will take every tear in your eye, every ounce of blood in your veins, and all the nerve in your heart to win her back.

Now, being a Libertarian, I have a problem with the drug war. Personally, I just don't care what people put into their bodies. I care about their actions. If they hurt or endanger someone, if they violate someone's property, they should be held accountable to the law. And the law's reaction should be swift, severe and certain.

Instead of enforcing the laws that protect lives and property, last year we arrested 700,000 people for possession of marijuana. In the history of mankind it has never been documented that marijuana has ever caused the accidental, negligent or deliberate death of anyone. A government that can put over half a million of its citizens in jail every year for possessing a little relatively harmless plant can do anything it wants.

And I don't care who the president is, Republican or Democrat, the peaceful, law-abiding, American gun owner is next.

If you like the effectiveness of the war on drugs, 700,000 people arrested, 30 billion dollars a year, more police cars, more courts, more jail cells and drugs on every street, government school and even in the prisons, you are going to just love the war on firearms.

A few years back we were remodeling the old jail in Telluride. When the jail was constructed, in the late 1800s, the builders first made the iron cellblock, which included solid metal walls with bar cell doors. They then covered the exterior of the cells with a wall of thick stone. Consequently, there was a space between the iron cell walls and the stone walls of about six inches. Over the years, items which disappeared into this space had proven to be irretrievable. While our construction workers were removing the old cellblock they would at times come across a variety of items from the old� days that had fallen into this narrow space. It was a bit like a time capsule that revealed old newspapers, whiskey bottles, clothing, and pieces of china.

One day, one of the workers came up to me and handed me a book he found in the space. It was the Colorado Statutes of 1908. All the laws of the state fit in one volume. Today, Colorado has over thirty thousand laws filling 12 volumes, and of course predictably, lawlessness is commonplace.

There are 600 traffic laws alone. Think about that when you drive home tonight. And even with all these laws some people still drive like fools.

Our tax code is 500 times the size of the Constitution. It is so convoluted no one -- not the courts, juries, or IRS agents -- no one can tell you without some doubt what it all means. One agent told me that in some jurisdictions up to 50 percent of the people are just not filing any tax returns. They are living completely outside the system. Now, the biggest tax cheat of the century gets a pardon. Does all this make you feel like a chump when you write those checks to the government?

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